Little Walter

小簡介
Little Walter, 1930 年五月一日生于Marksville, Louisiana,出生名叫Walter Marion Jacobs。他8歲時自學(xué)口琴。1942 他離開家組成了一個樂隊小組在New Orleans的街頭和小俱樂部里演出。 他1943年至1946年與Houston Stackhouse在Helena, Arkansas的King Biscuit Time樂隊工作。 Jacobs1946來到Chicago 與Tampa Red, Bill Broonzy,和Memphis Slim在Maxwell大街和俱樂部演出。他第一次錄音是1947年為Ora Nelle――一個Maxwell大街的小錄音室做的。Muddy Waters于1947年開始為Chess錄音后，1948年他將Walter的口琴加了進(jìn)來,另外還有Jimmy Rodgers的第二吉它, Leroy Foster的鼓。這個組合將他們的音樂定義為現(xiàn)代布魯斯。他們的第一張唱片于1950年在Chess錄制,都成為戰(zhàn)后的經(jīng)典。Walter的革命性的和獨特的使用擴(kuò)音設(shè)備的演奏為Muddy的經(jīng)典唱片做出了突出貢獻(xiàn)。Walter在1948年至1952年與Muddy Water的樂隊做巡演。
1952年Walter離開了Muddy的樂隊并成立一個叫 The Jukes 的樂隊，David和Louis Myers任吉它手、Fred Below任鼓手，這三人曾與Junior Wells合作過。1952他們第一第唱片問世。Walter手里拿個mic用擴(kuò)音設(shè)備演奏口琴(經(jīng)常在十孔與半音階口琴之間變換)。他的聲音就象saxophone，他以此表達(dá)他那極富想象力的即興演奏。Pete Welding 曾評價Walter, "象歌唱家一樣，他用口琴表達(dá)出了同樣的敏捷與富于彈性的搖擺,同樣的強(qiáng)度與熱情。"
從1952年到1968年Walter為Chess 錄制了大約100首作品。Walter也經(jīng)常作為伴奏樂手參與錄制，他也經(jīng)常參加巡回演出，包括于1964年與Rolling Stones去英國的演出。
Walter在一次街頭打斗由于頭部受傷于1968年12月15日死于Chicago，時年37歲，葬于St. Mary's Cemetery, Evergreen, Il.
by Bill DahlWhos the king of all postwar blues harpists, Chicago division or otherwise? Why, the virtuosic Little Walter, without a solitary doubt. The fiery harmonica wizard took the humble mouth organ in dazzling amplified directions that were unimaginable prior to his ascendancy. His daring instrumental innovations were so fresh, startling, and ahead of their time that they sometimes sported a jazz sensibility, soaring and swooping in front of snarling guitars and swinging rhythms perfectly suited to Walters pioneering flights of fancy.Marion Walter Jacobs was by most accounts an unruly but vastly talented youth who abandoned his rural Louisiana home for the bright lights of New Orleans at age 12. Walter gradually journeyed north from there, pausing in Helena (where he hung out with the wizened Sonny Boy Williamson), Memphis, and St. Louis before arriving in Chicago in 1946.The thriving Maxwell Street strip offered a spot for the still-teenaged phenom to hawk his wares. He fell in with local royalty — Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy — and debuted on wax that same year for the tiny Ora-Nelle logo (I Just Keep Loving Her) in the company of Jimmy Rogers and guitarist Othum Brown. Walter joined forces with Muddy Waters in 1948; the resulting stylistic tremors of that coupling are still being felt today. Along with Rogers and Baby Face Leroy Foster, this super-confident young aggregation became informally known as the Headhunters. They would saunter into South side clubs, mount the stage, and proceed to calmly cut the heads of whomever was booked there that evening.By 1950, Walter was firmly entrenched as Waterss studio harpist at Chess as well (long after Walter had split the Muddy Waters band, Leonard Chess insisted on his participation on waxings — why split up an unbeatable combination?). Thats how Walter came to record his breakthrough 1952 R&B chart-topper Juke — the romping instrumental was laid down at the tail end of a Waters session. Suddenly Walter was a star on his own, combining his stunning talents with those of the Aces (guitarists Louis and David Myers and drummer Fred Below) and advancing the conception of blues harmonica another few light years with every session he made for Checker Records.From 1952 to 1958, Walter notched 14 Top Ten R&B hits, including Sad Hours, Mean Old World, Tell Me Mama, Off the Wall, Blues with a Feeling, Youre So Fine, a threatening You Better Watch Yourself, the mournful Last Night, and a rocking My Babe that was Willie Dixons secularized treatment of the traditional gospel lament This Train. Throughout his Checker tenure, Walter alternated spine-chilling instrumentals with gritty vocals (hes always been underrated in that department; he wasnt Muddy Waters or the Wolf, but who was?).Walter utilized the chromatic harp in ways never before envisioned (check out his 1956 free-form instrumental Teenage Beat, with Robert Jr. Lockwood and Luther Tucker manning the guitars, for proof positive). 1959s determined Everything Gonna Be Alright was Walters last trip to the hit lists; Chicago blues had faded to a commercial non-entity by then unless your name was Jimmy Reed.Tragically, the 60s saw the harp genius slide steadily into an alcohol-hastened state of unreliability, his once-handsome face becoming a roadmap of scars. In 1964, he toured Great Britain with the Rolling Stones, who clearly had their priorities in order, but his once-prodigious skills were faltering badly. That sad fact was never more obvious than on 1967s disastrous summit meeting of Waters, Bo Diddley, and Walter for Chess as the Super Blues Band; there was nothing super whatsoever about Walters lame remakes of My Babe and You Dont Love Me.Walters eternally vicious temper led to his violent undoing in 1968. He was involved in a street fight (apparently on the losing end, judging from the outcome) and died from the incidents after-effects at age 37. His influence remains inescapable to this day — its unlikely that a blues harpist exists on the face of this earth who doesnt worship Little Walter.